Paramilitary gulity of 497 massacres: PG

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Paramilitary group Bloque Norte committed 497 massacres between 2000 and 2006 according to documents and testimony gathered by the Prosecutor General, Caracol Radio reported Tuesday.

A report by the Justice and Peace Unit outlines how demobilized paramilitaries’ confessions of massacres in the departments of Magdalena, Cesar, Atlantico and La Guajiraby have multiplied in the last three years, Caracol Radio said.

When the Justice and Peace law came into effect in 2006 there were seven known massacres committed by paramilitary in La Guajira, 82 in Magdalena, 89 in Cesar and 14 in Atlantico – a total of 192.

Due to testimony by former paramilitaries a further 69 massacres committed in La Guajira, 137 in Magdalena, 265 in Cesar and 26 in Atlantico came to light.

In Colombia a minimum of three people must be murdered for the crime to be considered a massacre. Thus the Bloque Norte must have murdered around 1,500 people in the 497 masscares committed over the six year period.

The findings of the Prosecutor General’s report will be officially presented from November 9 to 20.

Paramilitary gulity of 497 massacres: PG was last modified: October 27th, 2009 by Kirsten Begg